Floyd Mayweather says 'racism still exists in boxing'

Floyd Mayweather Jr. addresses the media during the post-fight news conference after his unanimous decision victory against Manny Pacquiao in their welterweight unification championship bout on May 2, 2015, at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Floyd Mayweather may be retiring, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to go quietly.

Recently, Mayweather opened up in an interview with Fight Hype’s Ben Thompson, addressing the racism that he believes still exists in boxing. In the interview, he specifically cited rankings as evidence of racism in the sport.

“I can’t believe they [Ring Magazine] got Andre Ward ranked number 4 in the pound-for-pound list. Even though the guy that’s ranked number 1 pound-for-pound right now [Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez], you know, you can’t argue about that, but without Andre Ward losing a fight, he has to be number 2,” he said. “I mean, he wins his fights not in good fashion, but in great fashion, and they have him at number 4? They got some guy ranked number 9, I don’t really know his full name, so I don’t want to be disrespectful, but they got a Japanese guy ranked number 9. They got Andre Ward number 4, and this guy that’s ranked number 9, we don’t even know who he is. I truly believe that racism still exists in the sport of boxing.”

He also pointed to discrepancies in the way the media portrays fighters of different races, pointing out that he was called “cocky and arrogant” while Conor McGregor was praised for the same behavior.

He then pointed to the difference between how Ronda Rousey and Laila Ali were treated.

“But you look at things like this, Ronda Rousey, you know, I think she fought somewhere like 11 or 12 fights, which is not a bad thing. Laila Ali went undefeated and was dominating too. After Ronda Rousey fought I think 9, 10, 11 fights, it didn’t even take that long, she got all types of endorsements, movies, and everything. Laila Ali did the same thing in better fashion,” he said.